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So, I've finally caught up with Steven Universe
And Onion is worst gem. Also spoilers. That took awhile, and yeah... you guys were right about it massively changing directions since the last time that I reviewed it. Yeah... I've been out of the loop for a long time. But as of Onion Gang, I'm caught up. Most of the changes have been good (although I don't find the show perfect as some people do). And one of those changes were continuity-based, and as I've said many, many times that makes things very difficult for me to review. The great episodes like Bismuth or Mr. Greg or The Return/Jailbreak have a lot of background that I wouldn't have the time to explain in one 7-20 minute review. Heck, they wrote a book on the background stuff: here I'm thinking that the only way to tackle this show at this point is with a Top 10 List, which I don't have much of a problem of doing. It's a great show, and it's easy to point out some of my favorite episodes. The problem with doing a typical review of this show is that it kind of breaks down my formula. Unlike other shows, specific episodes don't really hit me. Instead it's arcs, like the cluster. It's characters, like Lapis and Peridot. Things that aren't confined at all. Whenever a great character is on-screen, or it's talking about these arcs, it's hard for an episode to fail. And Steven Universe is great at telling stories that take multiple episodes to get across. Steven Universe has two main strengths - really good characters and really good arcs. It also has two main problems - bad characters and bad pacing for said arcs. Steven Universe is a great show, and I'd like it to get better, and the only way to do that is if we talk about the flaws. Let's start with the easier one - the pacing for said arcs. Steven Universe has a... weird habit. They spend an episode about some weird thing trying to destroy the world or whatever. And then, while that thing is incubating, they'll spend some time delving into the daily lives of each character. For example, during the Cluster arc, we heard of this thing that had the potential to destroy the earth. Alright, that's awesome. It has a lot of tension and it really keeps things going. During this, we get episodes like Steven's Birthday. Steven's Birthday is not a bad episode at all, but it's really hard to care about these mundane things when you've told me that there's this thing that could potentially destroy the earth if you don't stop it as soon as possible. Maybe they were trying to do something like The Ember Island Players from Avatar, where it was just a break to ease tension, but... it didn't really work. Between episodes, Steven Universe has some of the weirdest pacing I've ever seen, and this seems to be leftovers from their earlier days when every episode was self-contained. I don't have a problem with a show that has both slice-of-life episodes and more action-packed ones. It's actually kind of standard in anime, but you've got to pace it out properly. Right now, we've got a particularly bad example of this. Steven started dealing with the guilt from some of his actions in the past in Mindful Education and it was really tense, and it hasn't even been mentioned for three episodes instead dealing with random side characters. If I didn't know any better, I'd guess that these episodes were aired out of order. Which they're not, because Mindful Education is an A-episode to Future Boy Zoltron's B-episode. Also, there was a major missed opportunity with the Yellow Diamond thing. In Hit the Diamond, some rubies come down to Earth. Everyone thinks that they're after Peridot because she insulted Yellow Diamond to her face. But no... instead they're looking for Jasper. Wouldn't it make more sense if they were after Peridot? Both in-universe and on a technical level? It establishes the next big threat after the cluster, and lets the plot have some clear direction. I dunno, it just seems to make more sense that way from a storytelling perspective - especially with other news that the rubies bring us on the moon. I mean, after the cluster and until Mindful Education, the series seemed kind of... directionless, like it was back at the start of season 1. If I could describe the plot in steps. Steven learns to be a Crystal Gem until he finds Lapis. Soon after that, they learn about Peridot. Then it's learn about Peridot, and then it's stop Peridot. After that it's find Peridot on Earth and find Jasper before he takes control. So... they achieve both of these goals in one way or another. They find Peridot, and they redeem her. Peridot ends up insulting Yellow Diamond, and her fears give that decision weight. Yellow Diamond is petty enough to destroy the planet for less than practical reasons. They also find Jasper, and she ends up dying. So... then rubies sent from Yellow Diamond come along, looking for Jasper who is dead. The Crystal Gems sends them off to Neptune, and not much happens in the grand scheme of season 2 after that until the rubies come back. Throughout most of season one, it was "we don't know what Peridot was planning. She could destroy us at any time. Or do something terrible," "the cluster could destroy us at any time." Wouldn't it just make sense to have "Yellow Diamond's army could arrive at any time for Peridot?" Within the episodes however, the pacing is almost flawless. Every part of the story gets the attention that it deserves, and as such there's seldom a bad episode. Like I said, it's a complicated problem. When they do decide to continue with an arc, it has the right amount of tension to keep you watching into the next episode. And the cliffhangers don't really bother me that much when they happen (unless the next episode has nothing to do with said cliffhanger). And solitary episodes like Mr. Greg or Too Far really build upon previous cannon and create much stronger episodes that the show would be capable of doing. And then there's the characters. Steven Universe has some of the most-developed characters that you'll ever see in a western cartoon. Almost all of the Gems has tons of development. And then there's everyone else. With the exception of Greg and Connie, the human characters of Steven Universe tend to come up... meh... at best. Most of the side characters don't really go behind a gimmick, which could work for one episode. But when episode upon episode happens, it makes you long for the space battles and the characters that actually matter in the grand scheme about things. Sure... we could be talking about someone's sister inadvertently taking advantage of them. Or we could be hunting this gem that wants everyone dead and has been capturing and training monsters, that we could barely best. Not that those characters are bad. No, the bad characters are Ronaldo and Onion. They're both assholes, and they don't have much else going for them. Sure, Lars is an asshole too, but he just seems to want to be left alone. He isn't as... forward with his assholery as Onion, for instance. Ronaldo first. Let's see, his conspiracy-addled brain gets him to kidnap and nearly dissect Steven just because Steven tried to cheer him up. And in his other episode he tries to sacrifice Lars to appease a poltergeist because Lars hurt his feelings several years ago, over a photograph that would have massively humiliated Lars. There's a way to do this "believes in everything supernatural except the real one" kind of character, and I don't think he tows the line properly. Although I do love his smaller jokes and smaller roles. Like, his girlfriend joke was pretty hilarious. Also, him getting hit with the shirt was funny too, especially what he said afterwards. However he's not as annoying as... Onion. Onion is my least favorite character on the show. I don't think that Onion has had one positive effect on the world around him. Oh wait, he gives Steve some of his guys... after Onion stole one from Steven, spent the entire episode refusing to give it back, and taking a replicator wand that ended up going into a battle. What really bothers me about Onion is that every episode with him wants me to feel sorry about him... usually after he's doing something horrible. I mean in almost every scene he's in, he's doing something immoral or illegal because... that's his character, I guess. True, he didn't really do anything bad in Onion Gang, but by this point I'm so turned off of his character that I can't get invested in his episodes... or feel sorry for him when his friends are leaving because the summer is over. With Lars or even Raynoldo, any episode that has them acting like an asshole, doesn't really want me to feel sorry for them. In fact, with Lars they kind of go the opposite direction, expecting me to think that he was an asshole when he really wasn't (I prefer to pretend Island Adventure doesn't exist). But to end positively, I'll try to tell you my favorite character. Although in this show, it's really hard to decide. Almost every main character is amazing. Greg, for instance. Most animated parents are... the worst. Like the worst. Like... kid be dead in 5 minutes the worst. Greg is... probably one of the best parents in... any medium really. I could go on for pages and pages about how good he is. And he's... really human, which is such a rarity in animated parents. And then there's Peridot. Her mannerisms and how excitable she is just makes her a joy to watch. Even down to her manner of speaking, which is the "traditional alien accent." Although, I'd probably pick Lapis as my favorite, because she's got both the deepness and her comedy. Her story is touching. And her "I don't give a shit" style of comedy is hilarious. She was my favorite part of Hit the Diamond, for instance, and really helped me to enjoy the episode (despite the massive missed opportunity). So... that's my feelings on Steven Universe so far. Category:Miscellaneous